72 Signs of Trials ( Fitnah ) and Tribulations

Hadhrat Hudhayfah (radiallaho anhu) has narrated that the Holy Prophet (sallallahu’alaihi wasallam) predicted that seventy-two events shall occur in the period close to the Day of Judgement. These are:

1. People will begin to miss their prayers and pay no attention to them. If this is said in our times, there will be nothing surprising in it because the
majority of the Muslim does not offer their prayers. The Holy Prophet (saw) made this prediction at a time when prayers were considered as a line of demarcation between iman and kufr. Even the most sinful and vicious person living in that age did not miss his prayers. In his time, i.e. 1400 years ago, the Holy Prophet (saw) predicted about the present times that the people will miss their prayers.

2. They shall begin to betray their trusts. That is, they will misappropriate the trusts entrusted to them for safe custody.

3. They will begin to eat usurious income.

4. They will begin to consider lying to be lawful. Telling lies will become an art.

5. They shall construct high-rise buildings.

6. They shall sell their Deen (Faith).

7. They shall violate the bonds of relationships.

8. Justice will become a virtue almost hard to find anywhere.

9. Falsehood with become truth (and vice versa).

10. Silk garments will be worn by men.

11. Oppression and wrongdoing will become rampant.

12. Divorces will become common practice.

13. Sudden deaths will become a common occurrence.

14. One who betrays his trust will be regarded as trustworthy.

15. The trustworthy will be regarded as untrustworthy.

16. The liar will be regarded as truthful.

17. The truthful will be regarded as a liar.

18. Calumny will become a common feature, i.e. people will put false blames on
one another.

19. The weather shall be hot despite rains.

20. Instead of desiring children, people will hate them. They will pray to Allah not to favour them with children. This is actually happening as a result of the Family Planning Department of Governments are raising the slogan ‘Only Two Issues’ guarantee prosperity.

21. The meaner classes will be happy and prosperous.

22. The respectable classes will be in trouble and cast out of society.

23. The Rulers and the Ministers will become used to being engrossed in lies from morning until evening.

24. The trustworthy will begin to betray their trusts.

25. The leaders of the people will become wrongdoers.

26. The scholars of Deen and the reciters of Qur’an will become lewd and sinners.

27. The people shall put on skin-garments.

28. The hearts of the wearers of skin-garments will be more foul smelling than dead animals.

29. They will be more bitter tan the aloe plant (with bitter leaves).

30. Gold will become widely used.

31. Silver will be in great demand.

32. Sins will be on the increase.

33. Peace and security will deteriorate (as we see this at the moment).

34. The pages and covers of the Holy Qur’an will be lavishly decorated.

35. The Mosques will be decorated with beautiful writing and designs.

36. Lofty minarets will rise from the mosques.

37. Even so, the hearts will remain desolate and empty.

38. Wine will be drunk freely.

39. Punishments of the Shari’ah will be suspended.

40. The slave girl shall bear her master. In other words, the daughter shall rule over her mother and behave with her as a master behaves with his slave girls.

41. The bare-footed, the naked and the uncultured shall become Kings and Rulers. The mean, the untouchable classes and the depressed ones will become Heads of State.

42. Woman and man shall be partners in trade, as women are trying to take part in every walk of life side by side with men.

43. Men will imitate women; and

44. Women will imitate men. In other words, men and women shall adopt each other’s guise and appearance.

45. The people will swear by names other than Allah’s name. it is lawful to swear only by Allah or some attribute of Allah or by the Holy Qur’an. In the later ages people will swear by objects as ‘by your head’, etc. this is unlawful and strictly forbidden.

46. In the times to come even Muslims will bear false witness. The use of the word ‘even’ indicates that non-Muslims do bear false witness freely but a Muslim who is not expected to do so, will also commit this sin.

47. Salam (salutations) will be bidden only to those who are known and not to strangers. This is against the injunction of the Holy Prophet (saw) who has said in a hadith, “Salam should be bidden to everyone whether you know or do not know the person”.

48. Religious knowledge will be acquired not for the sake of religion but for the sake of earning worldly resources and worldly honour and status.

49. Work relating to the Hereafter will be done to earn worldly gains.

50. War spoils will be taken as personal estate. War spoils has been used here to imply public property which will be enjoyerd as personal property.

51. A trust shall be taken and misappropriated as plundered property.

52. Zakat will be paid reluctantly, as if it were a penalty.

53. The meanest man shall become the leader of the community by their consent or
votes.

54. Men will disobey their parents.

55. Men will misbehave with their mothers.

56. A man will not hesitate in causing harm to his friends.

57. A man will obey his wife.

58. The voices of the wrongdoers will rise in the mosque.

59. Women engaged in the singing profession will be held in great esteem and
accorded high status.

60. Musical instruments will be kept and preserved with care.

61. Wine will be drunk by roadsides.

62. Wrongdoing and tyranny will be looked upon as acts of pride.

63. Justice will be sold (with bribery) in the Courts of Justice.

64. The number of the Police will increase.

65. The Holy Qur’an will be recited in a musical style, so as to enjoy the singing tone and its musical cadence. The Qur’an will not be recited for the
sake of its da’wah (preaching) for understanding it and for reaping the reward for its recitation.

66. Beast skins will be used.

67. The later people of the Ummah will taunt and curse the former people, i.e. the latter will pass derogatory remarks at the former. As a result of this trend a large section of the people is deriding insolently the Noble Companions (radiallaho anhum) and are behaving in the same way with the leaders of Deen who conveyed to us the message of Deen. These elder Doctors of Deen are being blamed as being ignorant of the Ahadith and the Holy Qur’an whereas the later generations claim to have understood those sources of Islam better than the former. The Holy Prophet (saw) also said that when these signs appear then:

68. Red windstorm may come from Allah; or

69. Earthquakes may up heave the earth; or

70. They will begin to commit murders on ordinary grounds.

71. The peoples’ faces may be distorted; or

72. Stones may rain down from the sky or some other torment may descend from Allah – Allah forbid.

All these signs are proving true of our society one by one. The punishment that has come over us is really due to these misdeeds.

(Durre Mansoor, Volume 4, page 52.)

May Allah help us to act upon these injunctions and to keep away from all sins.
Ameen